The MacRumors Show: Arnold Kim Discusses History of MacRumors and More

[MacRumors]

MacRumors founder Arnold Kim joins us on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show to discuss some of the history of the website and the world of Apple news and rumors.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos​

Arnold started MacRumors as a hobby while studying for his final year of medical school in 2000. It has since grown to become the most popular Apple news and rumor site on the internet, sporting round-the-clock news coverage, helpful tutorials and a buyer's guide, a discussion forum with over 1.1 million members, and much more.

Arnold tells us about the website's beginning, his feelings about giving up his medical career to focus on Apple news, and growing MacRumors over the years. He weighs up some of the biggest challenges and satisfying wins in the site's history.

We talk through some of the other interesting domains and websites Arnold has owned, the future of Apple news, introductions to the website, and the MacRumors forums. We also discuss some of the original iPhone and iPhone 4 leaks and rumors, and whether Apple's headset will succeed in replicating an "iPhone moment" when it debuts at WWDC as rumors suggest.

Listen to The MacRumors Show in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castro, Google Podcasts, or your preferred podcasts app. You can also copy our RSS feed directly into your podcast player. Watch a video version of the show on the MacRumors YouTube channel.

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If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion with Ben Sullins about all of the latest rumors and expectations around the Apple Car.

Subscribe to The MacRumors Show for more episodes, where we discuss some of the topical news breaking here on MacRumors, often joined by exciting guests like Mark Gurman, Marcus Kane, Christopher Lawley, Frank McShan, David Lewis, Andru Edwards, Tyler Stalman, Jon Prosser, Sam Kohl, Quinn Nelson, John Gruber, Federico Viticci, Sara Dietschy, Luke Miani, Thomas Frank, Jonathan Morris... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: The MacRumors Show: Arnold Kim Discusses History of MacRumors and More

 

[sniffies]

MR is a religion. Thank you, Arn.

Padam padam.

 

[mystery hill]

I like the new white-shirt uniform.

 

[Mr. Dee]

I joined in 2003, but would have much earlier but a bug I was encountering was not making me register.

 

[t0rqx]

Reason I like MR cause it has the most Apple Fanboys members who dare to criticise Apple products, services and quality. Instead of loving, defending and fanboy-ing everything Apple does.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Thank you for inviting @arn. This one is probably one of the best podcasts you guys have done together. Well informative!

MacRumors have come a long way. Love MacRumors. Proud to be here. 🙌🏻

 

[terminator-jq]

Props to Arnold for creating such a fantastic site and taking a big career risk to keep it all going. Looking forward to seeing where things go next.

I’ve been getting my Apple News and rumors from this site since the old days of an Apple employee leaving the iPhone 4 in a bar. Also can’t forget the following year when all the rumors were pointing to an iPhone 5 with a tapered design and then we got the iphone 4S instead… Good times!

 

[ThomasJL]

Thank you, Mr. Kim, for all your time and work that you’ve put into this wonderful website. I’ve been reading it almost since its beginning, but didn’t register and start posting until after over a decade later. I appreciate the sustained effort you’ve put into this website.

I look forward to watching the video embedded in the OP.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Safari 16.5 on my M1 Mac mini, Monterey 12.6.6, no extensions, does not open the video.
Firefox works. Safari for Mac is dead It even no longer works properly on the MR site!
But now looking forward to listening to the video 😃

 

[akb]

Reason I like MR cause it has the most Apple Fanboys members who dare to criticise Apple products, services and quality. Instead of loving, defending and fanboy-ing everything Apple does.

It hasn’t always been so.

In the early days of my time visiting this site, the computing space was utterly Microsoft-dominated. It wasn’t entirely clear Apple would survive, despite the success of the iPod.

As a result of that wider environment, this place was fiercely, militantly pro-Apple.

I can understand it - I was a Mac zealot amongst my family and friends back then, chiefly because I was desperate for the Macintosh platform not to be extinguished.

But the high degree of sycophancy did make discussion difficult and somewhat uninteresting.

It’s much better now. As you say, Apple’s pros and cons are objectively debated in a world where they are a tech colossus in no danger of going out of business.

 

[dwhittington]

Love that Macrumors was originally established on the Slashdot engine. Back in 2004, I was a daily slashdot reader and tended to find myself gravitating towards the Apple articles. At some point I realized that over 50% of slashdot’s Apple articles were referencing this site. Ultimately, I remember making a conscious decision to just go directly to macrumors as my daily go-to.

Now that I think about it, seems that by the time of the Intel migration - MR was really where I found myself going to “get the latest” on what was going on at the time. I realize I was way later to the party than some, even then. But probably not a unique story either.

 

[Realityck]

Finally a show covering the history of MacRumors, great to take in. Thanks for the many years of effort you put in Arnold.

 

[blairh]

Thank you Arnold for this magnificent forum!! 👏👏👏

 

[phenste]

<3 @arn <3

thank you for creating a website with such a diverse school of thought within its forums (and honestly, for helping to foster one of my greatest passions over a decade+), much love

 

[ratspg]

Thanks for this great interview!! The MacRumors team has grown so much. Always great to see you @arn
You've created such a wonderful site and happy to hear since the beginning. Long Live MacRumors! Thanks again. 🙏

 

[HorstBockman]

Go to archive.org and you can pull up versions of macrumors.com from 1999 and later, including before Kim obtained the domain.
Edit: if you find archive.org useful, please chip in a few bucks to help it thrive.

 

[antiprotest]

Reason I like MR cause it has the most Apple Fanboys members who dare to criticise Apple products, services and quality. Instead of loving, defending and fanboy-ing everything Apple does.

There are still many people on here that defend Apple no matter what, even when it comes to bugs, defects, security issues, and outright customer-hostile behaviors on the retail floor.

But fortunately, there are also people here that are fair and clear-headed, favoring Apple because they like the company and the products in general, but refusing to put up with nonsense.

 

[sorgo †]

Thanks to @arn and the whole MacRumors crew and community! This is kind of the best forum ever, period 👌

 

[BobSc]

Safari 16.5 on my M1 Mac mini, Monterey 12.6.6, no extensions, does not open the video.
Firefox works. Safari for Mac is dead It even no longer works properly on the MR site!
But now looking forward to listening to the video 😃

I have no problem seeing the video on Safari. Safari is not dead.

 

[Spock]

Loved this forum before I finally joined in 2002, thanks Arn!

 

[Agile55]

Props to Arnold for creating such a fantastic site and taking a big career risk to keep it all going. Looking forward to seeing where things go next.

I’ve been getting my Apple News and rumors from this site since the old days of an Apple employee leaving the iPhone 4 in a bar. Also can’t forget the following year when all the rumors were pointing to an iPhone 5 with a tapered design and then we got the iphone 4S instead… Good times!

Agreed on all counts, that *misplaced* iP did create some good speculation/drama & as stated mega props to Arnold for the career lane swerve as MR has been an early AM stop for me + a late PM one since the early 2000’s.

 

[RodThePlod]

Great interview - thanks for the insights, guys! I've also been around for a while and remember when Arn used to write all of the stories.

I lurked for a couple of years before actually registering though, mainly because I'd started running my own news and rumours website in 2000, but focused on PDAs such as Newton, and other handheld devices (toppocket.com - long time defunct hahahaha).

 

[tsd]

This is so great! I started reading Macrumors back in 2001 when I was in the market for my first Mac (PowerMac G4 Quicksilver!). @arn thanks for hanging in there!

 

[scheinderrob]

i've always wondered how Arn went from medical school to this, quite a change. good for him

 

[triton100]

Reason I like MR cause it has the most Apple Fanboys members who dare to criticise Apple products, services and quality. Instead of loving, defending and fanboy-ing everything Apple does.

Ha whenever I critique apple I’m accused of being an Apple hater. Whenever I praise apple I’m accused of being a fanboy. Humans are ridiculous.